Anwar says won't be Pakatan's PM candidate

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 ― Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today he will not offer himself to become Pakatan Harapan's candidate for prime minister, even as Opposition leaders continue to endorse him as “the country’s seventh prime minister”.

In a statement, the jailed Opposition leader said that debates around the issue was “tiring” as such a decision should be in the hands of voters.

“In light of the call to focus completely on the next general election, I have chosen not to offer myself as candidate for prime minister,” he said in a statement.

This comes as Anwar’s former nemesis Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again expressed readiness to be the Opposition pact’s prime minister, although with a caveat that the decision should be unanimous among its member parties.

In an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review last week, the country's longest-serving prime minister appeared to note Anwar's insistence the position must not be unilaterally filled, following Dr Mahathir's initial “offer” to take up the post if necessary.